Dylan Davies andLlion Williams on the Pokerstars rally, with thanks to Calum Shaw Stafford for the image

Although it is near the end of the rallying season with some championships already decided and finished it didn’t slow down the action, as there had been a good amount of action taking place in the lanes of Wales and even further afield out in the Isle of Mann as club members braved the cold and tricky autumn conditions to get the few last competitive miles out of the year.

The first event was to be the Manx Auto Sport organised Pokerstars rally held on the 11th and 12th of November, which Dylan Davies and Llion Williams decided to take part in. The rally was to take part over the weekend with the first stages taking part on the Friday Evening before a full day of competition on the Saturday. Crews took part in 14 stages giving a route of approximately 80 miles. It was to be Dylan’s first true tarmac rally having not competed on tarmac since competing on road rallies some years ago. With Dylan’s regular B13 Subaru Impreza not ready due to having some upgrades carried out the decision was taken to use they newly acquired Group N Subaru Impreza instead.

The rally began with six stages on the Friday evening, varying in length from 3.74 to 10.53 miles. Dylan took things steady in the wet foggy conditions that greeted the crews, even do he managed to find himself in fourth overall at the end of day service, but unfortunately straight after the service one of the cars drive shafts broke, which put the crew into retirement for the night.

In the morning, the car was repaired and the crew began the day’s stages by setting fastest overall on the day’s opening stage which was Glen Roy 1, a 4.64-mile stage that made up the events seventh stage. Dylan followed this up with yet another fastest overall time on stage 10, Glen Roy 2, which was incredibly impressive as the car was a group N car that was fitted with a standard gearbox. Unfortunately, though Dylan and Llion’s luck was to come to an end on the following stage, the 6.58 mile Maughold 2, the Impreza’s diff mount broke, which meant that Dylan’s first tarmac event would result in a DNF. Both crews seemed to enjoy the event and both look forward to venturing out to the Island again soon.

Cadog Davies and Reian Jones on their way to thrid overall on the peak revs rally, many thanks to Power shot Photography for the image

The next event held which saw action from club members was the Ludlow Castle motor club organised Peak revs road rally, a 120-mile road rally that would take place on map 137 Based in Ludlow race course. There were a couple of club members entered, them being Cadog Davies and Paul Jenkins. Initially Cadog was to be navigating for Mark Roberts but due to the car not being ready Cadog decided to enter last minute as a driver, and he had his regular driver Reian Jones swap seats and navigate form him, in his Proton Satria. Paul Jenkins non-started.

Conditions were atrocious with the lanes in the first half littered with leaves and mud, making the roads very slippery and making braking points very difficult to judge. Despite this come the half way petrol halt six crews were penalty free, including Cadog who had made the most of the poor conditions and even managed to catch cars in the tricky conditions.

Conditions were no better in the second half with the lanes looking more like rivers as each minute passed with the downpour of rain making the already tough conditions even harder, which added another test to the crews who were competing. TC17 was to be the first dropper of the night for the faster crews and Cadog put in an excellent time, only picking up fifty-three seconds of penalties, were many crews had had well in excess of a minute, so the potential for an excellent result was there if they could continue to keep out of trouble, which was to be no small achievement given the conditions. The next difficult section was to be at TC19 which saw crews pick up more penalties, Cadog put in yet another excellent time with 1 minute and thirty seconds on penalties, once again this put him well inside of the top ten fastest. TC29 was to be the final tricky section for the fastest crews, where Cadog managed a time of 1 minute and 22 seconds, giving him a total penalty of 3 minutes and 45 seconds, which was enough to give him third overall, a fantastic result for Cadog and Reain, showing that Cadog has excellent talent on both sides of the car, no doubt an outright win isn’t too far away for him.

Stefan "DR" Davies and Michael Gilbey on their way to third overall on the Cilwnedeg, with many thanks to JNAS Photographic for the use of their image

The weekend of the 26th and 27th of November saw many club members head down to Newcastle Emlyn’s Mart car park which could only mean the Cilwendeg was once again on. The very famous event once again organised by Teifi Valley motor club was to be the final round of the welsh road rally championship and although the championship has already been decided there are still positions up for grabs.

A field of ninety cars left the start car park and included many club members. In car 3, swapping seats once again was Cadog Davies who was navigating for Reian Jones, in Reian’s Seat Ibiza. Car 4 was Steffan “DR” Davies who had Michael Gilbey navigating once again, they were out Steffan’s immaculately prepared Mk2 ford escort. Car 8 saw Dafydd Evans navigating for Llyr Williams, out on the first of many Peugeot’s, this one being a 206 model. Alan Gaunt was at 16 with Richard Tyson Morris navigating, Alan who had entered in a Mk2 ford escort ended up using a Renault clio for the event. Dorian Evans was navigating in car 17, a Peugeot 206, driven by Huw Jones. Wayne Tar Jones and Rhys Jones were at 41 in another Peugeot 206. Yet another Peugeot 206 was at 56, this time with Jonathon Davies driving and Andrew Gaunt navigating. Car 78 was Lee Plant, who had hired a Proton Satria GTI off Dylan Davies to use on the event, he was partnered by Mike Phillips. In 89 was Rhydian Thomas with Jess Miles navigating, they were out in Rhydian’s Peugeot 306.

The event was made up of some hundred miles and would feature over some classic lanes of OS map 145 with some seventy making up the first half, and even before setting off the temperatures were bitterly cold and frost began to appear.

The first sections of the rally included lanes just south of Newcastle Emlyn, with the first spectator point being only a few hundred meters away from Newcastle Emlyn high school, giving spectators a great place to watch locally for those that were braved the cold, before heading down to Pantybwlch and Rhos Pwyllgawnen. TC3 was to be the first real test for many crews where almost all of the field picked up penalties, Reian and Cadog getting 8 seconds, Stefan and Michael picking up 6, Llyr and Dafydd picked up 2 and Huw and Dorian picked up 10, with most crews outside the top 10 picking up thirty seconds or more.

It was to be an early end for Rhydian and Jess however, with their rally coming to an end after only a mile or so with the car skidding off the road on a very slippery piece of tarmac, both crew members were completely fine and the car only receiving light damage, most of which will surely polish out!

Conditions were very difficult once again, this time due to the cold weather which gave to frost and ice on the roads, making it very difficult for crews to find any grip which made for some very interesting moments for those out. TC6 was another tricky section where the most of the field once again picked up penalties, with most crews picking up over a minute in penalties at this control.

The route then headed back north towards Llechryd, with another spectator point at Carreg Wen, followed by another at Llandygwydd, which was a tricky slot harpin left into harpin right. TC10 was the next dropper, with Stefan and Michael getting forty seconds of penalties, Reian and Cadog picked up forty-two, Alan and Richard achieved 1 minute and 2 seconds, Huw and Dorian got 49 seconds. Jonathon and Andrew also got 1 minute and 2 seconds. Lee and Mike were doing well in the semi expert class and managed 1 minute 19 seconds. Wayne Tar and Rhys Jones had retired, reason not known.

At the petrol halt in Gogerddan, it was Huw and Dorian that held a lead, with Stefan and Micheal in fifth, Reian and Cadog were at tenth, Alan and Richard were twelfth, Jonathon and Andrew were seventeenth, Llyr and Dafydd were at twenty second, Lee and Mike were at forty sixth. With one difficult half done and another still to run there was plenty of opportunity for changes on the leader board.

The rally headed to the some of the most northern parts of the map with the lanes around Brynhoffnant and Cwmtydu all featuring with another spectator point just north of Brynhoffnant as the competing cars turned left off the B4334 at approximately 2:30AM for the brave spectators that were yet to be put off by the cold. SF5 (standard section finish) was another tight section and saw crews drop more time, with Stefan and Michael achieving the best from Lampeter members with a time of thirty-six seconds, and not too far off were Reian and Cadog who achieved forty-two seconds. Another tight section and TC20 saw crews drop more time with the top 10 picking up a handful of seconds although some, like Llyr and Dafydd in the little Peugeot did manage to clean this time control. Nobody however, managed to clean SF6, where Huw and Dorian were quickest club members, Dorians vast experience no doubt paying off on some of the night’s sections. Not far off their pace at this control were Stefan and Michael who had ten seconds.

The route of the rally then headed south once again, now heading back towards the finish final control at Newcastle Emlyn, and used lanes around Brongwyn, where the last spectator point of the rally was at Cilfallan, giving one last opportunity for everyone to see the surviving crews to see the cars in action, before they headed to the finish at Newcastle Emlyn rugby club.

Despite the bitterly cold conditions and slippery roads an impressive sixty-five cars manged to get to the finish, with Stefan “DR” Davies being the best Lampeter representative, who manged to finish in an excellent third overall, with a total time penalty of three minutes and thirty-one seconds, only a minute and one second down on the events winners Kevin Davies and Dale Bowen. Reian and Cadog managed to finish a very respectful seventh overall in their Seat, Huw Jones and Dorian Evans finished fourteenth in their Peugeot 206, and another 206 behind, was Llyr Williams and Dafydd Evans, with Huw and Dorian finishing on six minutes and fifty seconds, and Llyr and Dafydd on seven minutes forty-eight. Alan Gaunt and Richard “Tyson” Morris were sixteenth on eight minutes and nineteen seconds. Jonathon Davies and Andrew Gaunt managed thirty second in their Peugeot 206 with sixteen minuets and forty-six seconds. Lee Plant and Mike Phillips managed thirty fifth overall, and third in class, a very respectful result being and Lee was in an unfamiliar car and had not competed on a rally in nine months.

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the event despite the very tough conditions, no doubt the after-rally breakfast was a much welcomed sight after hard fought night in the lanes, on what many people agreed was a very enjoyable event that used mainly metalled roads, with only two small whites featuring in the route and many classic sections that gave everyone out a tough but fun challenge.